As the Summit County Council prepares to take a vote at its Wednesday meeting on the one-quarter of one percent transit and transportation tax, they continue to make presentations about the tax impacts across the county. Two members of the Summit County council will make that presentation to the Park City Council at their special meeting on Tuesday. KPCW’s Leslie Thatcher has more.
The presentation will be made at 3:15. The Summit County staff is recommending that the county approve the sales tax Doing so, doesn’t require any truth in taxation hearing or a public vote.
Park City Manager Diane Foster says there are a lot of pros and cons to implementing the new tax. Although the Park City Council hasn’t taken a stance on how they feel about it, Foster says Mayor Andy Beerman did express some concern at a recent meeting of the Council of Governments.
"What we heard from the mayor was around tax fatigue. I provided the city council with a link to the county’s’staff report that lists the pros and cons of implementing the tax. The good news is that the majority of the burden would fall on our visitors. And the county has more transportation projects than it could fund at this point even with the voter approved taxes that the county levied a few years ago. "
Meanwhile, as the Summit County Council moves forward with a vote, they now have to consider how a last minute lawsuit that was filed over the weekend will impact the county. In a lawsuit filed late Friday night, elected officials in the Salt Lake Valley allege that the tax hike did not technically get the support it needs to be enacted under Salt Lake County’s ordinance. They claim that the Sandy city council didn’t pass a resolution in support of the tax, but only voted to send a letter of support.
If the larger Utah counties don’t sign on, it could be a deal killer for Summit County’s support of the tax increase. Last week, Council member Roger Armstrong told KPCW if all of the large counties are in, including Salt Lake, Utah and Washington counties, he could probably support the tax hike… If approved, the quarter of one percent hike, would raise taxes by one penny for every $4 spent beginning in October.
Summit County Council is accepting feedback about how it moves forward with a new optional sales tax for transportation and a new sales tax for transit. The council is accepting feedback until Wednesday. The revenues generated would help the county fund projects in Kimball Junction, on S.R. 224 and in Silver Creek sooner than previously planned.
To provide comments, contact any council member or send an email to mobilitymatters@summitcounty.org
